ANA flight delayed 90 minutes to let copilot clear alcohol threshold

Written by Writer on Friday, October 24th, 2008

ANA flight delayed 90 minutes to let copilot clear alcohol threshold

The breath alcohol level of an All Nippon Airways copilot exceeded the carrier’s allowable limit Wednesday, causing a 90-minute delay to a flight from Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, to Haneda airport in Tokyo, company officials said Thursday.

ANA detected about 0.327 mg of alcohol in one liter of the copilot’s breath, exceeding the company’s in-house allowable limit of 0.1 mg. The test was conducted at 7:16 a.m., about 50 minutes before ANA Flight 120, a Boeing 747, was scheduled to take off.

The copilot said he had been drinking the night before, according to the officials.

Because there was nobody at the airport who could replace him, the airline had to delay the departure until a second test held after 9 a.m. confirmed the copilot’s alcohol level had fallen to an acceptable level.

ANA allowed the copilot on board and the flight left at 9:33 a.m., they said.

“We apologize to passengers for the trouble,” an ANA official said. “We will take care so that such a thing does not happen again.”

The airline told the 405 passengers on board the plane that the flight had been delayed due to the pilot being ill, according to the officials.

The copilot and the pilot, who drank with him, said the copilot drank a glass of beer and some “awamori” spirits sometime before 8 p.m. Tuesday — about 12 hours before the flight, the officials said.

The Aviation Law prohibits flight crews from drinking within eight hours of their flights. ANA’s in-house rule bans drinking within 12 hours of flights.

“There was no safety problem, but we verbally cautioned ANA because the incident caused a delay,” said a Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry official.

The Japan Times
Friday, Oct. 24, 2008